Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881).
Contents
The original text
The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar (1598 to 1605) during the Time of Troubles, and his nemesis, the False Dmitriy (reigned 1605 to 1606). The Russian-language libretto was written by the composer, and is based on the 1825 drama Boris Godunov by Aleksandr Pushkin, and, in the Revised Version of 1872, on Nikolay Karamzin's History of the Russian State.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1939: Presented by John Connell.
1942: Presented by John Connell. Presented on tour with the orchestras of Cape Town, Johannesburg and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) together with singers and dancers from all over the country. The production toured from Johannesburg to Pretoria and Cape Town and in each city local choruses and dancers were used.
Sources
Hilde Roos. 2010. 'Opera Production in the Western Cape: Strategies in Search of Indigenisation'. Unpublished PhD thesis. Stellenbosch University.
Hilde Roos. 2012. 'Indigenisation and history: how opera in South Africa became South African opera'. Acta Academica Supplementum. 2012(1).
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